Joey Barton has escaped a police charge for dropping his shorts in the direction of Everton supporters following Manchester City's 1-1 draw at Goodison Park on Saturday.

Merseyside police have terminated their inquiries into the incident, and will now leave the English Football Association to consider any further punishment.

A statement said:  "Merseyside Police has been in consultation with the FA in relation to the [Barton] incident. The FA will now continue with their own investigation."

The news will come as a relief to City manager Stuart Pearce, who earlier called for a sense of perspective to be applied to any punishment meted out to the midfielder.

Pearce said: "Let's get things into a little bit of perspective. Maybe some of the things that were said to that player are a more serious matter but we are not going to rake that up."

Pearce added: "If things are serious and need to be addressed, fine. When I get home I see exactly on television what happened.

"I see one of my players give his shirt to a disabled fan. As he's walking off the pitch he's being sledged about things I'd prefer not to go into - but we know what we're talking about.

"He kept a smile on his face throughout the whole incident, and he's done something that at worst is a little bit childish.

"At best it's a bit of comedy that everyone should laugh off, but I still have to deal with it several days later."  PA